Gourmet is back… as an iPad app

What follows is a story of death and rebirth.

Ever since the Internet exploded there has been a fear of printed magazines and newspapers becoming obsolete in favor of the new media. And that has been mostly true. But now the iPad with its magazine format, has given out of print publications a new opportunity. Gourmet Live is one of these.

The first issue of Gourmet came out in 1941, and up until it closed in November of 2009 due to losses, “Gourmet was to food what Vogue is to fashion”, as the New York Times put it. But when we thought Gourmet was lost forever… it reappeared on the 22nd of September as an iPad mag.

So, what is Gourmet Live? In Anil Dash’s (one of the minds behind the launch along with Michael Wolf) words, it’s a “new iPad app that reimagines Gourmet as a sort of massively multiplayer magazine”. While other magazines try to use the same content and the same format for two very different mediums, Gourmet has re-invented itself to make the most of the iPad’s features. They wanted it to look like a native iPad app, not just a cheap imitation of it’s printed version. For example, every time you finish reading an article, you get a “reward”, which is access to more content on the same topic. These rewards are all collected on some “shelves” (similar to iBooks), so you can go back to your old articles whenever you want.

The new Gourmet only 24 hours after it’s launch was already the top Lifestyle applications on iPad. If you want to know more about Gourmet Live, go and read Gizmodo’s review, or better yet, download the application. It’s free!

• App
• Gourmet